Cloverfield
The exact nature of the beast has not been disclosed, and will not be revealed in any marketing material other than the movie itself. Curiousity, it has to be said, is killing us.
- Director:
- Matt Reeves ('The Pallbearer', TV's 'Felicity')
- Writer:
- Drew Goddard
- Cast:
- Blake LivelyOdette YustmanMike VogelLizzy CaplanMichael Stahl-David
Reviews & comments
Variety
pressAn old-fashioned monster movie dressed up in trendy new threads, "Cloverfield" plays like "The Blair Witch Project" meets "Godzilla," as it charts via camcorder the desperate efforts of some twentysomething Soho scenesters to steer clear of a gigantic beast laying waste to Manhattan. Despite its indie-flavored shooting style, first-rate visual effects, reasonable intensity factor, nihilistic attitude and post-9/11 anxiety overlay, this punchy sci-fier is, in the end, not much different from all the marauding creature features that have come before it...
Hollywood Reporter
pressThink "Godzilla Unplugged" -- with chillingly effective results...
Stuff
pressIt does everything a good monster movie should. It’ll thrill, it’ll shock, and it’ll quite likely scare the bejeezus out of you. Depending on your tolerance of handycams, it may very well make you sick...
New Zealand Herald
pressThroughout, Cloverfield pulls off the trick of generating tension from what it doesn't reveal or what might be lurking just out of frame. That's an old trick, of course, and there's not really a lot new about Cloverfield, apart from its ground-level perspective. But there's no denying its inventiveness or intensity, and both are sure to make this New York demo tape a monster hit...
Newshub
pressSeeing what unfolds through a personal video racks up the tension perfectly, up close and intimate, and with some consistently strong performances by a cast of relative unknowns.
Despite that intimacy, the film failed to build any real attachment to the characters, but purely from a visual perspective, and for the ride, Cloverfield definitely kept me entertained, and even felt quite fresh....
Empire Magazine
pressBelieve the hype - Cloverfield is an impressive twist on the blockbuster disaster movie...
BBC
pressGodzilla meets YouTube in this corking sci-fi thriller from Lost producer JJ Abrams and director Matt Reeves. Cloverfield's brilliantly simple gimmick is to take a traditional monster movie scenario and shoot the carnage from ground up, using a single camcorder carried by one of the protagonists. The action is relentless: we get five minutes of introductions at a going-away party for chiselled yuppie Rob Hawkins (Michael Stahl-David), then something goes boom in Manhattan and it's wall-to-wall peril...
SOOO SICK AND TWISTED
OMG i love horror, sci fi and thriller films and it takes alot for me to say a film was good or impressive however this film totally ROCKED MY BOAT!!! IT WAS AWESOME i have never found a film that had me on the edge of my seat every second, accept for my bloody valentine 3d which i find shit now compared to cloverfield. CLOVERFIELD IS SICKKK... Its so sad...
0.o
The movie was good it had a human side story on the side . Good actors ? in a moster movie ? i never thought it was a possible. Now because i rated it 3 doesnt meant its not a good movie which it is, its just not something im into or will ever realy like. I never realy got these types of movies .
meh
just as far as general plot goes this wasnt bad, a couple of jumpy moments, a bit too much pathetic romance, characters you dont give a toss about, and a big monster. but after the first 5 or ten minutes it becomes unwatchable. i felt sick through the whole movie, and for a while afterward, theres so much camera movement you pretty much want to keep your...
Awesome!
Go and see this movie it is awesome! The only thing that could have made it better would have to rigged a cinema up to have moving chairs.. That would have topped it off. Great Action film! Says the film never leaves the view of the handy cam... but the image at top of this page proves otherwise..?? Overall awesome!!!!
Ted's review
Was concerned when I read Ted's review ** below, until I got to the "inherent scariness of Blair Witch" comment, where I switched off. So I went and saw it anyway. You can't compare this with Blair Witch, OK it's hand held and overhyped with guerilla marketing but at least it's not drivel (sorry pointless, boring, badly-acted, supposedly-scary, drivel)....
Flicks.co.nz, what have you done?
Cloverfield is a pretty cool film in some ways - there is something inately enjoyable about watching a monster smash stuff up. But really, this is pap. The Dawson's Creek first 20mins is a bunch of drama and man crying likely to appeal to only under 15s. And the very beggining, with the timecode & 'Government Department' logos etc, was just...
Variety
pressAn old-fashioned monster movie dressed up in trendy new threads, "Cloverfield" plays like "The Blair Witch Project" meets "Godzilla," as it charts via camcorder the desperate efforts of some twentysomething Soho scenesters to steer clear of a gigantic beast laying waste to Manhattan. Despite its indie-flavored shooting style, first-rate visual effects, reasonable intensity factor, nihilistic attitude and post-9/11 anxiety overlay, this punchy sci-fier is, in the end, not much different from all the marauding creature features that have come before it...
Hollywood Reporter
pressThink "Godzilla Unplugged" -- with chillingly effective results...
Stuff
pressIt does everything a good monster movie should. It’ll thrill, it’ll shock, and it’ll quite likely scare the bejeezus out of you. Depending on your tolerance of handycams, it may very well make you sick...
New Zealand Herald
pressThroughout, Cloverfield pulls off the trick of generating tension from what it doesn't reveal or what might be lurking just out of frame. That's an old trick, of course, and there's not really a lot new about Cloverfield, apart from its ground-level perspective. But there's no denying its inventiveness or intensity, and both are sure to make this New York demo tape a monster hit...
Newshub
pressSeeing what unfolds through a personal video racks up the tension perfectly, up close and intimate, and with some consistently strong performances by a cast of relative unknowns.
Despite that intimacy, the film failed to build any real attachment to the characters, but purely from a visual perspective, and for the ride, Cloverfield definitely kept me entertained, and even felt quite fresh....
Empire Magazine
pressBelieve the hype - Cloverfield is an impressive twist on the blockbuster disaster movie...
BBC
pressGodzilla meets YouTube in this corking sci-fi thriller from Lost producer JJ Abrams and director Matt Reeves. Cloverfield's brilliantly simple gimmick is to take a traditional monster movie scenario and shoot the carnage from ground up, using a single camcorder carried by one of the protagonists. The action is relentless: we get five minutes of introductions at a going-away party for chiselled yuppie Rob Hawkins (Michael Stahl-David), then something goes boom in Manhattan and it's wall-to-wall peril...
SOOO SICK AND TWISTED
OMG i love horror, sci fi and thriller films and it takes alot for me to say a film was good or impressive however this film totally ROCKED MY BOAT!!! IT WAS AWESOME i have never found a film that had me on the edge of my seat every second, accept for my bloody valentine 3d which i find shit now compared to cloverfield. CLOVERFIELD IS SICKKK... Its so sad...
0.o
The movie was good it had a human side story on the side . Good actors ? in a moster movie ? i never thought it was a possible. Now because i rated it 3 doesnt meant its not a good movie which it is, its just not something im into or will ever realy like. I never realy got these types of movies .
meh
just as far as general plot goes this wasnt bad, a couple of jumpy moments, a bit too much pathetic romance, characters you dont give a toss about, and a big monster. but after the first 5 or ten minutes it becomes unwatchable. i felt sick through the whole movie, and for a while afterward, theres so much camera movement you pretty much want to keep your...
Awesome!
Go and see this movie it is awesome! The only thing that could have made it better would have to rigged a cinema up to have moving chairs.. That would have topped it off. Great Action film! Says the film never leaves the view of the handy cam... but the image at top of this page proves otherwise..?? Overall awesome!!!!
Ted's review
Was concerned when I read Ted's review ** below, until I got to the "inherent scariness of Blair Witch" comment, where I switched off. So I went and saw it anyway. You can't compare this with Blair Witch, OK it's hand held and overhyped with guerilla marketing but at least it's not drivel (sorry pointless, boring, badly-acted, supposedly-scary, drivel)....
Flicks.co.nz, what have you done?
Cloverfield is a pretty cool film in some ways - there is something inately enjoyable about watching a monster smash stuff up. But really, this is pap. The Dawson's Creek first 20mins is a bunch of drama and man crying likely to appeal to only under 15s. And the very beggining, with the timecode & 'Government Department' logos etc, was just...
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